Copyright and Patent Reform

Everyone is part of the digital economy

As the Labour Party gears up its attempt to attract younger voters, Ed Miliband has committed the party to keeping tuition fees in place, but reducing them by 1/3 to £6000 a year.

Loan interest rates would also increase from 3% to 4% for graduates in the highest tax brackets. This increase would pay for students from basic income tax families to receive an additional £400 pounds of maintenance.

The Pirate Party committed to eliminating tuition fees in 2010, reiterating that position again in its 2011/12 policy process.

Following the success of the Pirate Party's 'Un-Conference' in Salford, the London branch is bringing the best bits down South as well!

It's clear that the Pirate Party is needed more than ever. From mass surveillance, restoring confidence in our broken democracy, making politics something everyone can take part in, challenging international agreements that threaten our freedoms, we're dealing with issues that other parties aren't.

Come and join us to kick off the General Election campaigning in London. It's a chance to meet other like minded people, discuss policy, meet candidates and learn what you can do to help and get involved. We like to do things differently, so we are 'hacking' the old fashioned party conference idea. You don't need to be a member to come, and feel free to pop in for as much or as little as you like. We'd be really happy to see you even if you've never taken part actively in politics before.

The Pirates have always challenged the norm, and our conferences and branch meets are no exception.

Last night I attended a set of talks organised by Open Data Manchester, as part of Manchester's excellent Future Everything festival that is running this week. The talks were about how open data sets can be beneficial to the "Third Sector" - voluntary, charity and community work, to benefit the disadvantaged.

Since our inception, the openness of government has been a key stone of Pirate politics. A democratically run country absolutely requires openness and transparency to exist, in order to make the elected representatives accountable to the electorate. It's through obfuscation of data, back door deals, and deliberate misuse of facts and statistics that a government manipulates their position of power to their own ends, strengthening their own position, and eroding the ability for the electorate to hold them accountable, creating a vicious circle. The end result of this is a direct route towards absolute power, and, as we all know, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

After being put to member vote the results for the latest amendments to the Party constitution are now available. Members voted in favour of accepting all of the proposed amendments and the new Constitution is now available.

As an immediate consequence of these amendments the following must occur:

The NEC must have a Code of Practive which should refer to all voting NEC positions other than Leader & Deputy

The Board must empanel a Financial Oversight Committee - it does already informally have one but this must become an official one

Nominations for Deputy Leader must open as soon as practicable

The NEC must designate a voting NEC member who is responsible to the party for the management of the party's finances - it may do this via its Code of Practice

I attended the Manchester ORG meetup tonight; the first meetup of 2015 chaired by the head of ORG, Jim Killock. The subject was a topic dear to my heart: Dragnet Internet Surveillance, and how it affects all of us. An easy thing to focus on when discussing mass surveillance is the "needle in a haystack" approach that is so favoured by the current Home Office, and all those that have come before: The idea that "they" are not reading your email, "they" are only looking for bad actors in amongst that sea of information. This response tackles the issue at far, far too high a level: The question isn't whether an individual's email is or is not being read; the underlying issue is that people are forced to change their behaviour on the basis that they may be being watched. That is a direct attack on everyone's liberty.

It's clear that the Pirate Party is needed more than ever. That our brand of politics which is not afraid to be controversial is an antidote to the grey identikit types that dominate UK mainstream parties. From mass surveillance, restoring confidence in our broken democracy, making politics something everyone can take part in, challenging international agreements that threaten our freedoms, we're dealing with issues that the others aren't.

Civil liberties are just like muscles. They must be exercised regularly in full, or they will weaken, wither, and atrophy.//Rick Falkvinge

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.//Edmund Burke

Your own acts and behaviour tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.//Ai Weiwei

Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.//Margaret Mead

What kind of rights and freedoms individuals will enjoy are the domain of the public, not the government in the dark.//Edward Snowden

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. //Nelson Mandela

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.//Albert Einstein

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.//Winston Churchill

The Fine Print

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